Opening on Saturday, May 20 (5-7pm) and continuing through mid-June, ‘Homatorium II’ collects work made during and after an artist’s residency held by Chamberlain and her husband on the grounds of a psychiatric institution in the Netherlands, where they and their children spent the summer of 2013. The exhibition juxtaposes paintings of sites within the institution that resident patients said gave them a sense of hope or calm with other works — based on visits to Richard Neutra’s VDL Research House (Los Angeles) and the Williamsburg Houses (Brooklyn), along with vintage images from the Neutra Architectural firm (housed at Cal-Poly University’s ENV Archives-Special Collections) — that continue the artist’s investigation into architecture’s promise to meet psychological needs for safety, possibility and belonging. Printed pillows piled in window seats promise sanctuary while in the windows themselves, hanging from aluminum hospital track, are custom-lace translucent curtains patterned after “safety paper”—the obscuring designs printed on the insides of security envelopes.
Rebecca Chamberlain has worked broadly across disciplines, from painting and performance to fashion design. Her paintings and drawings consider the boundaries of public and private spaces and the psychological and physical impact of architecture. Using materials such as lithography ink and ballpoint pen in unusual ways, Chamberlain’s paintings of Modernist architecture call attention to a humanist approach to design and its effect on the way we experience spaces. Rebecca Chamberlain was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1991. She has performed at the Hirschhorn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Her work has been exhibited at Dodge Gallery, 303 Gallery, and Knoedler Project Space in New York; VOLTA NY, New York; judi rotenberg gallery, Boston, MA; Leyendecker Gallery, SP among other venues. She has received the Joan Mitchell Grant and a NYFA Fellowship for Painting. Chamberlain’s work has been reviewed in Artforum, The New York Times, Art in America, Artinfo.com, The Boston Globe, Flash Art and Tema Celeste, among others and is included in the collections of The Currier Museum, Société Bic, Fidelity Investments and Torys LLP. Following a residency at Het Vijfde Seizoen (the Netherlands) in 2013, Chamberlain became an Artist Ambassador for the Beautiful Distress Foundation Artist Residency at Kings County Hospital. Chamberlain lives and works between Brooklyn and Delancey, New York.
REBECCA CHAMBERLAIN
Homatorium II
May 20–June 15, 2017
Opening Reception:
Saturday, May 20, 5-7pm
with wine from our partner Dandelion Wine
Open for viewing on Saturdays from 12-5, during events (see the Calendar for event listings), and by appointment
Contact: info@bushelcollective.org